A comprehensive study profiling 280 of America’s most profitable companies finds that 30 enjoyed a negative federal income tax rate from 2008-10 – including two with major operations in Washington state: Paccar (-30.5%) and Boeing (-1.8%). In total, 78 companies paid zero or less in federal income taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2010 despite being profitable throughout this period.
Two other Washington “brand name” companies made the report:
- Microsoft’s tax rate couldn’t be evaluated because the company reported most of its pretax profits as foreign – even though most of their revenues and assets are in the United States
- Amazon.com paid an effective rate of just 7.9% from 2008-10, about one-third the average rate of a “married filing jointly” household earning between $16,750 and $68,000.
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